A brief guide to showing Cavies (Guinea Pigs)

At a Cavy show, you will find that Cavy Fanciers - people
who breed and show guinea pigs – sometimes call them “cavies”, and sometimes
“pigs”, the terms being used interchangeably. The male cavies are called
‘boars’ and the females ‘sows’ – even though cavies are no relation at all to
the farmyard pig!

The cavies you see at cavy shows are divided into two
main groups for showing. One is the “Purebred” section, for pigs which are of a
recognised breed, like Abyssinians for example, with their harsh coat arranged
into rosettes. Another purebred is the Dalmation, a smooth short-coated white
pig with coloured spots all over its body, usually in black or chocolate
colour. You will also see the longhaired varieties with their long coats
brushed out onto the boards on which they are shown. Then there are the “Self”
purebreeds, where the pig is smooth coated, and the same colour all over. There
are ten recognised colours for the pigs in this group.

ABYSSINIAN CAVY

DALMATION CAVY

ONE OF THE
LONGHAIRED BREEDS: THIS IS A TEXEL IN SHOW COAT

The second section is for Pets. Some of these are pigs of
no particular breed, just ordinary crossbred pet pigs. The judge is not looking
for a particular colour or coat type – these don’t matter in pets – so they can
be any variety or mixture. You can also show pigs of a known breed in Pet
classes. These are usually the ones which are not close enough to the show
standard to be shown as purebreds. So a pet pig can be any colour or
combination of colours, and can be long, short or rough coated. Showing pets is
a good way to start in the fancy, and to learn how to present pigs in show
condition.

For a pet pig to
be successful in the Pet Classes, there are three things to remember:

(1)The
pig must be really clean, and this includes its coat, grease spot, ears, feet
and nails. Nails must be trimmed if necessary. The pig should be bathed (see
below) and when dry, carefully brushed/combed to remove loose hair and ensure
that there are no knots or tangles. Longhairs are usually shown with their
coats clipped to a length that just clears the floor.

(2)The
pig must be in good health and sound physical condition, and be free from any
disease or parasites (mites, lice etc.) They should be fit but not fat, with a
well fleshed, muscled body, healthy shining coat and bright eyes.

(3)The
pig must also be used to being handled, so should be tame, friendly and calm on
the judging table. Allowances are made for younger pigs to be more skittish, as
they are not expected to be as steady as adult pigs that have had more show
experience.

A line-up of Self
cavies

Purebred cavies must be prepared
in a similar way, but each breed has a written Standard to which they are
judged. These standards are published as a booklet or can be seen on the
British Cavy Council website,www.britishcavycouncil.org.uk

Junior exhibitors can
obviously enter purebred pigs in the Junior Purebred Section, but they can also
enter in the ‘Open’ classes, where they are competing against adult fanciers.

A HANDSOME ROUGH
COATED PET CAVY

ENTERING THE SHOW

The schedule can look very
alarming to start with, so if you are not sure which classes to enter your pigs
in or how to fill in the entry form, it is best to phone the secretary and ask,
as it is easy to get it wrong at first.

If you look at the schedule you will see that all pigs are
shown in age groups: Adult (8 months and over), 5-8 months old, and under 5
months old. Pigs shouldn’t be shown before they are 3 months (13 weeks) old.

Pet pigs are further divided into classes for boars and
sows, and then by coat type - that is: smooth, rough or long. For pets the coat
can be in any colour or mixture of colours.

A smooth pet has a short smooth coat and all the hair must
lie from nose to tail.

A rough pet can have a curly coat, or it may have ridges,
quiffs or rosettes.

A cavy which has a smooth coat but has a crest (a round
rosette) on its head is classed as rough, unless there are separate classes for
crested pets.

A longhaired pet cavy can be smooth or rough, but the coat
in both cases is long.

The Pet Classes are divided into
those shown by adult exhibitors, and those shown by junior exhibitors – usually
from age 5 to 17.

A CRESTED PET CAVY

A LONGHAIRED PET CAVY
WITH A CLIPPED COAT

TRANSPORTING CAVIES TO THE
SHOW

You can bring your pigs to the
show in any secure, well-ventilated container. Cavy Fanciers usually have
purpose made carrying boxes, but a sturdy cardboard box with a few extra holes
in it, a cat basket or a plastic small animal carrier will be fine. Put
newspaper, shavings and hay in the bottom to keep the pig clean while
travelling. Obviously if the show is in the summer and the day is going to be
hot, then it is very important that your container has really good ventilation,
as pigs can overheat extremely easily in a closed box, and become ill or even
die from heat stroke.

PREPARATION BEFORE THE SHOW

Bathing your pet pigs should be
carried out a few days before the show. You need to pay particular attention to
the grease spot, which is situated where the tail would be if the pig had one.
Boars are greasier in this respect than sows. A good way of cleaning this spot
is to rub neat Swarfega* into the spot and the coat surrounding it. This
will loosen the grease. Leave for a few minutes then rinse thoroughly, before
shampooing your pig. For this, you can use any shampoo used for people. Boar’s
coats are often greasier than sow’s coats, and may need more than one shampoo
to get really clean.

*Swarfega is used by mechanics to get oil off
their hands and is sold by Halfords and similar stores. The green coloured
Swarfega in the red tub or pump bottle is best.

You can wash your pig in the
kitchen sink. Stand the pig in a washing up bowl in a few inches of warm water
and gently pour water all over it with a small jug, going carefully over the
head and face, until the pig is wet all over. Then lift the pig out onto the
draining board and shampoo it thoroughly, being careful not to get shampoo in
its eyes. Next, rinse the coat well, either by pouring clean water over it, or
back in the washing up bowl in several changes of water, or by using a hand
held shower attachment. Towel dry. Next put the pig on two or three old towels
in a plastic basket, with another thick towel over it. Put the box in a warm
well-ventilated place to finish drying off, changing the towels for dry ones as
often as necessary.

A cavy’s coat can take several
hours to dry completely, and so it is important to make sure they are quite dry
before putting them back in their clean hutch, especially if the weather is
cold. Some people use a hairdryer to speed up the drying. You may decide to
keep the pig in overnight if it is very cold outside.

Trim the nails if necessary with
clippers or small sharp scissors, and check that the ears are clean. Don’t,
however, poke inside with anything like a Q-tip. The ear flap is all you need
to check.

If you are showing a longhaired
pet cavy, the coat must be neatly trimmed to clear the ground, and have no
knots or tangles. The coat at the rear of the pig, or inside the back legs is
particularly prone to getting knots.

AT THE SHOW:

On the show day, the pigs will
spend the day in a wire pen which is supplied by the club. You will need to
bring shavings, towels, Vetbed or puppy pads to put under the pigs and hay, dry
food and vegetables for them to eat.

Water is not usually provided,
although you can put a bottle on the pen if you wish. Instead, fanciers provide
a selection of juicy vegetables, particularly cucumber, celery, apple, etc. to
ensure that the pigs are not thirsty, and treats like parsley, chicory, fennel
etc or whatever they particularly enjoy, to encourage them to eat in strange
surroundings.

All the pigs should be in their pens half an hour before the
time judging starts - this time is stated on the schedule. Once judging has
begun, the pigs must stay in their pens except when being judged and must not
be taken out except by the stewards.

Each pig is allocated a number for the day, and wears a
small adhesive paper label on one ear with this number on it. The pen where
they will spend the day has the same number. The ear labels will be attached to
your entry form when you get it back from the secretary at the start of the
show.

The numbering system also ensures that the judge has no idea
which pig belongs to which exhibitor, and of course no exhibitor must tell the
Judge which is his or her pig until judging is over, when they will be happy to
answer any questions.

Short-coated pigs will only need
a quick brush on the day to remove any loose hairs and get any dust out of the
coat. Longer coated cavies must be carefully brushed and combed to make sure
that there are no knots or tangles in the coats.

You must not take your pigs home until judging has
completely finished, even if all the classes they have been entered in have
been judged. The finish time depends on the number of entries and the speed of
the judges, but is usually late afternoon. Take the bedding out of your pens
and take it home with you, otherwise the club has masses of rubbish to get rid
of. At some shows, the exhibitors are also asked to help clear the pens away
before prize money is paid out. This doesn’t take long if everyone lends a
hand.

We hope you have
found this brief guide helpful. If you have any queries, please contact the
Southern Cavy Club Joint General Secretary: